Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea: Los Blancos take big step toward Champions League semifinal

Goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio left Real Madrid in the driving seat in their Champions League quarterfinal against Chelsea. 

Benzema struck in the first half and Asensio sealed the first leg win at the Santiago Bernabeu after the break following a Ben Chilwell red card for Chelsea. 

The teams will meet in the second leg at Stamford Bridge next week, with the winners meeting Manchester City of Bayern Munich for a place in the final. 

Madrid were the better side throughout and Benzema had already seen a chance saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga when he opened the scoring in the 21st minute. 

Dani Carvajal's fine pass found Vinicius, who prodded it towards goal. Kepa saved again but Benzema turned home the rebound. 

Thibaut Courtois then made a fine save from Raheem Sterling as Chelsea threatened an immediate equaliser but the Belgian wasn't overworked overall. 

Kepa saved from Rodrygo and a Vinicius effort was hooked off the line by Thiago Silva as Chelsea made it to the break only a goal down. 

The English side's hopes of turning the game around vanished on the hour mark when Chilwell was sent off for pulling Rodrygo down as the Brazilian raced through. 

Shortly after, Asensio scored the second goal, placing the ball in the bottom corner after a well worked short corner. 

From there, Madrid looked more likely to get a third than Chelsea pull one back, but the Premier League team did almost grab what would have been an important goal in stoppage time. 

Mason Mount picked the ball up in the box but his strike was brilliantly blocked by his former teammate Antonio Rüdiger to leave Chelsea with a mountain to climb next week against the reigning European champions.